This past weekend, Elon Musk-led private space company SpaceX made history by launching a pair of NASA astronauts into orbit, an accomplishment that could upset the balance of the international space industry.

On May 30, SpaceX sent its first manned spacecraft into space that successfully delivered NASA astronauts to International Space Station (ISS). But not many know that SpaceX’s Falcon 9, besides rocket fuel, is fueled by the Linux operating system!

The Falcon 9 rocket was running an unspecified version of the open-source Linux OS on which the flight software, written in C/C ++, runs. SpaceX and Linux go way back as SpaceX employees confirmed that Dragon and Falcon 9 both run on Linux in an old 2013 post.

It turned out that the “brain” of Falcon 9 is running Linux. More precisely, a certain stripped-down version of Linux is used. As for the hardware, everything relies on three regular x86-compatible dual-core processors. The flight software is written in C / C ++ and runs separately on each processor.

A system of three identical and independent processors is needed to ensure safety and fault tolerance. The system constantly compares the calculation results on each CPU with each other, and if there are any differences, the result is discarded, and the process starts again. If all is well, each CPU separately sends a command to PowerPC microcontrollers, which also compare the received commands.

Long-time Slashdot reader mrflash818 ("Linux geek since 1999") shared a ZDNet article pointing out that SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has an onboard operating system that's "a stripped-down Linux running on three ordinary dual-core x86 processors. The flight software itself runs separately on each processor and is written in C/C++."

Each of SpaceX's monthly launches of 60 internet-beaming Starlink satellites carries 4,000 stripped-back Linux computers, SpaceX software engineers have revealed.

SpaceX engineers disclosed the detail in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session over the weekend. Elon Musk's rocket company last week launched 60 more internet-beaming satellites into space on a reused Falcon 9 rocket, bringing its total count to around 480 and moving it closer to the 800 it needs to provide moderate coverage over the US.

The company plans to launch a public beta of the satellite internet service by the end of the northern hemisphere's summer and has won approval to deploy one million end-user terminals in the US.

On May 30, Elon Musk’s SpaceX carried its first manned Dragon spacecraft with two NASA astronauts into space via Falcon 9 rocket. Later on June 3, SpaceX launched a batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit.

Following the same, we reported that SpaceX used an open-source Linux system to power both Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. Now during the ongoing Ask Me Anything (AMA) session with the SpaceX software team on Reddit, Matt Monson revealed that each batch of 60 Starlink satellites carries more than 4,000 Linux computers.

SpaceX engineers have explained in a reddit post that if you use an Android phone, you are probably unknowingly familiar with code that makes SpaceX rockets fly. SpaceX rockets actually mimic technology that millions of users use everyday on their Android devices, including Chromium and a Linux based operating system. The historic Demo 2 launch, which happened just a few days back on one of the most advanced spaceships in human history, and was powered by technology that exists in your smartphone.

Now, we are all familiar with the straight-out-of-sci-fi Crew Dragon touch screen panel that has garnered so much acclaim from people all over the globe. That touch screen panel employs Chromium, Google’s open-source foundation for the Chrome web browser.

“We liked all the modern features that comes with browsers out of the box,” said Sofian Hnaide, a developer who worked on the Crew Dragon display technology. This also gave SpaceX the opportunity to hire developers who are already familiar with the type of programming involved.

SpaceX thinks of its network of Starlink broadband satellites as akin to a cluster of servers in a data centre receiving frequent software updates for issues such as performance and security, the company has said.

Speaking with Reddit users at a question-and-answer session, the company’s director of Starlink software Matt Monson said the constellation requires “a ton of software to make it work”.

The company intends to dispatch an open beta of the satellite web access before the finish of the northern half of the globe’s mid year and has won endorsement to convey one million end-client terminals in the US.

SpaceX as of late applied to the Federal Communications Commission to dispatch 30,000 second-age satellites far beyond the 12,000 that had just been endorsed. Expecting the second-age satellites convey a similar number of Linux PCs, it would mean SpaceX plans to send in any event 2,000,000 Linux PCs into space in the following barely any years.

It likewise implies that it’s currently sent 32,000 Linux PCs to space for the current heavenly body.

“The constellation has more than 30,000 Linux nodes (and more than 6,000 microcontrollers) in space right now,” composed Matt Monson, SpaceX’s chief of Starlink software.